Website:http://www.dgeneraterecords.comMusic:http://thekounterkulture.com/Number%20One.wavThe startup boutique record label dGenerate Records may score a big hit with its first release as Francis Bowie’s “Number One” reached, appropriately, the number one slot for adult contemporary radio adds throughout the US this week, according to data released today. In fact, the retro-flavored song scored strong across radio formats, including Top 40 and alternative, sailing past icons like U2, Elton John, and Justin Timberlake.
Of course, this is music to the ears of label founder Michael Jones, who responded to Bowie fans on Facebook Wednesday with a confident, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
“Number One” is the first single from Bowie’s “Sex, Drugs and Thrilling” EP to be released in June, also by dGenerate. All of the songs were produced by Justin Trugman (Backstreet Boys, Eminem, JoJo and Mickey Avalon) and Jeff Blue (Linkin Park, Macy Gray, Limp Bizkit, Korn, and Hoobastank).
In addition to Bowie, the label has signed EDM duo Vegamoore, whose four-EP project “PLURologie” will be released on dGenerate over the next year.
Jones said he hopes to position dGenerate as the “label for innovators.” Like his management and production company KounterKulture Management and Media, “dGenerate is only interested in signing edgy performers, many of them underground, we can develop as artists and brands with significant commercial appeal. Just being weird doesn’t mean you’re being creative or marketable; you’re just being weird. The artists I’m interested in are the ones whose work connects to their soul, not some marketing gimmick. Granted, it’s a razor-thin line we walk.”
Francis Bowie, Jones said, is the perfect artist for the label’s launch. “As a painter, musician, performer and person, Francis Bowie really exists in the gap, the gap between light and dark, between male and female, and his music and performances reflect that. As we worked together, he’d tell these stories through this amazing music that just poured out of him. His songs, his gender-bending presence: it all reflects who he is.”
For Bowie’s upcoming EP and others, Jones said dGenerate will employ unique delivery approaches and media formats. “The videos for each single from ‘Sex, Drugs and Thrilling’ are part of a larger media project being released with the EP,” Jones explained. “The Vegamoore EPs are a year-long project with all kinds of surprises.”
As for his label’s visibility, Jones said, “I’m keeping dGenerate’s profile low for now. We have too much going on and need to stay focused and not get deluged with artists label-shopping. That time will come later.”